You have heard that it was said that Pope Francis is intent on excommunicating the mafia, you know, more officially than did Pope John Paul II back in 1982. You can see how scared Marini was in back of him, surely thinking they were going to get shot on the spot. As it is, the mafia was killing priests, threatening the Cardinal of Palermo, executing judges, and doing all their horrible protection rackets, prostitution, drugs. At the time, at least in the Archdiocese of New York, it was forbidden to provide the sacraments or funerals to the mafia. Now, I don’t know. Perhaps it wasn’t “officially” done by JPII and Francis wants to make it more “official.” There are plenty of mafia priests around, especially in Italy, but elsewhere as well, certainly in these USA.

Maybe Pope Francis will make the excommunication something only the Holy See or Missionaries of Mercy can take away. We will see. I have some stories to tell along those lines which involve the Italian Military and the Holy See, with me right in the middle of the whole thing. Perhaps this is what inspired the brain-stormers, you know: “Let the Missionaries of Mercy be put on the spot.” Fine. Whatever.

It is imperative that a bit of thought goes into advice for those absolving such things. I would not recommend that any priest be allowed to do this. I recommend that the possibilities for absolution are made known at the same time as the excommunication, which is supposed to be medicinal, right?

Unless things have radically changed in Rome over the past number of years in regard to the mafia, I would guess that no one has a clue what the political maneuvering is really like. I will try to write more on this, also to Archbishop Fisichella (my boss in this matter) and Pope Francis.

Perhaps it might be thought that my little parish is out of the way and inconsequential in this matter, but, in fact, it is because it is perhaps the most remote place in these USA that the mafia is to be found in abundance, along with, unknown to each other, those in witness protection.

6 responses to “Excommunicating the Mafia – part 2 – Missionaries of Mercy to absolve?”

You hit on two of my hot button issues today. 1- Why should we excommunicate members of the Mafia when we won’t even refuse communion to, much less excommunicate, national politicians who facilitate the murder of millions of preborn children around the world. 2- Scripture says somewhere that we should worry more about those who can kill our souls (see below) than about those who can kill the body (Mafia?). Yet Pope Francis and his cronies are causing people to think that they can divorce, remarry, and receive communion. He has a group studying women deacons, which if allowed will rapidly lead ordaining women priests. I just read that he is forming a group to revisit Humane Vita, which if it follows the current trend will end up condoning contraception. God needs to rescue His Church!

I am so confused. I thought that there was no sin too great for God’s forgiveness. If someone is barred from the church (excommunicated) how can he obtain forgiveness? James Anderson’s comment echoes what I have been thinking for a long time.